DESCRIPTION
This project designed and constructed four large and three small logjams on the left and right banks of the North Fork Nooksack River at RM 53 in order to roughen the floodplain, encourage channel island and side channel development, and encourage flow into a 1.1 km side channel that was the focus of Phase I (07-1802R). The three small logjams were constructed on the right bank of the enhanced side channel to increase channel diversity and ocver. The project should increase stable spawning habitat and help to protect incipient channel islands in the reach. North Fork/Middle Fork Nooksack early Chinook comprise an independent population of Puget Sound Chinook, and recovery is considered critical to recovery of the ESU.
The WRIA 1 Salmonid Recovery Plan identifies the lower North Fork reach as the highest habitat restoration priority and channel instability as the highest priority limiting factor for NF/MF Nooksack early Chinook. A recent assessment of North Fork habitat demonstrated that channel islands, and the side channels associated with them, have been disappearing from the North Fork over the past two decades, and that these areas often provide the best spawning and rearing habitat for Chinook. Encouraging the natural formation of protected side channels is expected to boost egg-to-fry survival, and the growth of channel islands is expected to reset a natural process of logjam formation that has been interrupted by past land use practices. The project will take advantage of natural processes to encourage vegetation establishment and growth, resulting in more protected stable side channel habitat.